The Only Ties that Bind are the Ones We Choose
by Zarthor563
Summary: A wolf born of the wind seeks to sate his hunger in the Enchanted Forest; a wolf cloaked in red flees with her best friend from the Evil Queen's men. Their paths cross and, in each other, each finds a place to call home.
1. Chapter 1

Many years had passed since Bigby Wolf had last traveled the forestlands of Mist Haven; he had not been here since the incident with Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother, his first attempts at eating humans.

Suffice it to say that he did _not_ have fond memories of the place.

It was also near to Arendelle, and he had long since decided that he was steering clear of his father.

But damn it, he was _hungry_ , and his preferred prey was scarce now in many of the homelands he traversed, thanks to the Adversary and his followers. While his soldiers and supply lines proved plentiful, Bigby was in the mood for something _tasteful._

While Mist Haven was rumored to be under his control, the Adversary dared not risk sending too many of his forces here, lest he anger his father who, despite his considerable power, the Adversary could not best in open combat.

So there were bound to be some humans Bigby would actually _enjoy_ eating.

The moon shone brightly overhead as the Big Bad Wolf (a name no longer uttered in mockery) ran through the forest, relishing in the _thump_ and _patter_ of his paws as they hit the ground, propelling him forward. His ears were at attention, listening for the slightest indication of nearby prey.

His nose caught them first. There were fourteen distinct scents, but oddly enough, only twelve appealed to his hunger.

He angled himself in their direction, howling.

* * *

Red was having a bad time of it. She had just lost her mother, after fighting her to protect her best friend. She had finally found a place to belong, where she didn't need to feel ashamed of her wolf self, and she'd had to leave it behind.

She didn't blame Snow, not at all: now that her mother was gone, she was the closest thing Red had to family. Granny Lucas no longer mattered, all Red felt towards her was anger. She had lied to Red, taken her from her mother and told her she was dead because she feared the wolf, because she didn't want Red to be raised as a wolf-child.

While her mother wanted Red to choose between her wolf and human self, Granny had made the choice _for_ her, and that rankled.

Snow was the first person she'd met who made her feel that she didn't have to choose, that she could be _both_.

If only the Queen wasn't dead-set on killing the girl.

After burying Anita, they set out again with no particular place in mind, just wanting to leave the castle that had been the werewolves' den behind them.

It didn't take long for one of the Queen's patrols to find them.

And now they were running. _Again._

Red knew she could outrun them if she shifted; her lessons may have been brief, but she could control her wolf now.

But she was too small to carry Snow on her back, and she refused to leave her behind. She didn't want to fight them either; while she was comfortable in her second skin, she was still troubled by the thought of killing people in that form.

Like she killed Peter.

"Red," Snow said as they ran, breaking her from her thoughts. "Did you hear that?"

Red strained her ears, listening hard; while lesser in this form, her senses were still sharp. She heard the distinct tromp of the soldiers' horses, the shatter of leaves and the breaking of ground as they galloped, and-

God. The howling.

Had her mother's pack found them already? Were they working with the Queen?

"Damn it!" Red cursed, as she came to a stop beside her friend. "We can't outrun them, Snow."

"I know," Snow replied as she strung her bow.

Red took off her cloak, and her wolf was set free.

* * *

Bigby snarled as another set of howls joined his own. These were his prey!

Then he stopped, sniffed the air. There were no new scents on the wind, just the same fourteen from before. How strange. He shook his head, clearing it of unnecessary thoughts. He was close now.

He burst into a clearing, effectively stopping all the action around him as he came into view.

It wasn't everyday you came across an eight-foot tall wolf.

There were six men, all on horseback. They had formed a circle around a woman holding a bow and arrow, and a small black wolf.

Bigby sniffed the air. Now that he was closer, he could distinguish between individuals. The two whose scent had not appealed to his hunger were the woman and the wolf. Judging by the way they were surrounded, they were being hunted.

Well, he couldn't have that. _He_ was the hunter here.

There was a moment of silence. Then he growled, and bent down to devour of one the men. His ears picked up the sound of an arrow being let loose, and the cub had attached herself to another human's leg.

As long as they didn't target him, he would leave them alone.

The moment the man's flesh tore and the blood touched his tongue, Bigby recoiled, an angry growl slipping past his muzzle.

 _Tainted. Corrupt. Disgusting._

They belonged the Adversary. He would not be eating them.

But that didn't mean he couldn't kill the men: he was only happy to set _him_ back.

The girl had taken out two, but the cub was still working on her first. Squeamish? She wouldn't last long that way.

Bigby made quick work of the other three, snapping his jaws at two of them and crushing the last with his front paw.

He then happily began to tear into the horses.

"Red, what _is_ he?" he heard the woman ask softly.

"The Big Bad Wolf," he heard _another_ woman reply, causing Bigby to turn and look down at the pair of them. Where the cub once stood, there was now another brunette, wearing a red cloak that struck him as familiar.

"The way Granny tells it, he ate both of us once, when I was still small. If a passing woodsman hadn't cut him open and saved us...let's just say I'm glad I don't really remember it."

Surprised, Bigby laid himself down, so that he could stare into the woman's eyes. To think, he'd almost eaten a wolf-child. She didn't _smell_ like a wolf.

"A woodsman cut him open?! How!?"

Bigby gave them both a dangerous smile. "I was smaller then."

"You can speak!?"

"Evidently. It was a gift...from the North Wind."

"Why did you eat us?" Red asked.

"I was hungry."

"But you're not eating us now."

Bigby turned his head, gesturing towards the dead horses. " _I'm not hungry now._ Why are the Adversary's men hunting you?"

The cub's companion looked confused at this. "These are the Queen's men."

"Mist Haven has no queen. It's a contested territory, with three kingdoms laying claim to it."

"Mist Haven?"

Bigby rolled his eyes. "You know it as the Enchanted Forest."

"Oh."

"She means Regina, Queen of the Silver Kingdom," Red supplied.

"I thought the White family ruled there."

"My father is dead; my stepmother has taken the throne in his stead."

Bigby looked at the other woman now, _really_ looked her. Hair black as ravens, skin white as snow. This was the heiress to the Silver Kingdom.

He sniffed. She smelled...pleasant. But he was getting off track. His hunger sated, the question remained as to what he would do with these two.

"These are not your queen's men," he told them.

"They are dressed in her colors, and they bear her banner."

Bigby stood, and shook his head. "They may have been hers at one point in time, but they are not now. Men who enter the Adversary's service are… tainted somehow. They don't taste the way normal humans do.

"I've eaten enough of them to know."

Snow looked pained. "But that means-"

"Your Queen is likely dead, and a minion of the emperor set in her place."

"But why hunt Snow if the Queen is gone?" Red asked.

"To keep up appearances, so that the kingdom believes the she is still in power. With one of the Cardinal Winds making his home so close to the Silver Kingdom, he cannot risk conquering openly."

"What will I do now, Red?" Snow asked softly, though not softly enough that Bigby could not hear. "She may have hated me, but she was all the family I had left. And now _someone else_ wants me dead, and he has more power than she ever did."

"You still have me," Red told her, making no effort to soften her voice. She looked up at Bigby. "And now you have _him_ , the Big Bad Wolf himself."

The wolf laughed. "Is that right?"

"Is it wrong?" Red challenged. "You've been fairly docile with us, wolf. If you were going to kill us, you would have done it already."

Bigby grunted. "True enough, cub." He laid down again, making a decision. "Get on my back."

"Why?" Snow asked.

"The Adversary controls many of the homelands, and his power is spreading. There are very few places left where you would be safe, Snow White.

"But I once tracked a witch to a magic portal. This portal leads to a realm _outside_ of the homelands. It is a world without magic, and holds no interest for the Adversary.

"I will take you there."

Red hopped on readily, but Snow still looked confused, and a little wary. Good.

"The Adversary is also my enemy. I do all I can to disrupt his plans. I give you my word, however much that might mean to you, I will not harm nor allow harm to come to you."

Snow White smiled then. "Thank you, Mister Wolf," she said as she climbed on his back.

The Big Bad Wolf took off at a run.

"Call me Bigby."


	2. Chapter 2

_It is said that the Dark One can see into the future, that the blackness from which his magic is derived gifted him with the ability to see into the Void and all that which is to be._

 _This is not necessarily accurate._

 _Time is not immutable: it is not a prescribed set of events, determined by Fate or some other equally cosmic force. Time is a construct, a product of the mind of Men. If it is anything, it is a set of choices, and the consequences that follow._

 _To that end, Time is ever in flux, until the choice is made and the path set...until the next choice is made, and the path continues accordingly._

 _The Dark One cannot see the future. Rather, he can see the threads (as golden as those he spins) created by choices made, and follow them to their conclusion. But once another choice is made on that same thread, the future changes and what was once possible is no more._

 _And so, the Beast's purported gift is little more than educated guesswork._

 _In the words of the Dark One himself, "When you can see the future, there is irony everywhere."_

— _The Book of Fables_

* * *

" _ **Rumpelstiltskin."**_

 _Snow falls upon the back of the Great Wolf; the wind carries her forward. A cursed blade gives the wind's progeny human form._ _He seeks the Place Out of Place._

" _ **Rumpelstiltskin."**_

 _Snow falls on a crimson cloak; it will protect her until it's turned old and frayed; the Great One will find home in its embrace._

" _ **Rumpelstiltskin!"**_

The Dark One jerked awake. As strange as his dream had been, it was also intriguing. While he knew not what it meant, he _did_ understand two of its individual pieces.

The game was changing, and that meant he still had a chance.

But first, he would attend to the relic in the Dark Palace.

With a thought, Rumpelstiltskin left his home and appeared in the former bedchamber of his once apprentice.

"You must be some kind of desperate to be calling _me,_ Dearie," he said playfully.

"I am," the Mirror replied. "I need you to save Regina."

"Regina is dead, Dearie," Rumpelstiltskin crooned with a flourish of his hand. "The old man rules here now."

And how that _stung_ when he'd first heard of it. Regina was supposed to be it. His ticket to the realm without magic, hist ticket to Baelfire.

And she was dead.

But he had a new ticket now.

"He did not kill her," the Mirror said. "He bespelled her into stasis, and keeps her in the family crypt. He needs her alive for his puppet-Queen to function."

"Interesting. But you have nothing to offer me in return."

"I can give you Belle."

Rumpelstiltskin's gaze hardened, and the playfulness in his voice disappeared. "Belle is dead, killed by the Queen herself, if I remember her boast correctly. I do not take kindly to those who lie to me, Genie."

"Regina didn't kill Belle. She has kept her prisoner. Underfed and dirty, but alive." The Mirror thought for a moment, then spoke again, softly. "She has felt what it is like to lose one's True Love; she is not yet so heartless that she would inflict that pain on another."

"Tell me where she is."

"No."

"Tell me where she is, or I'll smash every mirror in this castle!"

"Belle for Regina. That's the deal, Dark One."

"The girl first."

"And have you whisk her away before you've helped me? No."

Rumpelstiltskin grimaced. "It seems you've finally grown a spine Dearie."

The Mirror smiled darkly in return. "You know who I was, how I came to be what I am, and why I did it. Truthfully, Dark One, I have nothing left to lose."

"Belle for the Queen?"

The Mirror nodded. "Belle for the _awakened, sane_ Queen."

Rumpelstiltskin huffed. Placing one hand on Mirror's surface, he intoned, "The deal is struck."

As he turned away, the imp said, "He will find a way to destroy you for this."

"He will certainly try," the Mirror agreed. "But I was born from a magic even he cannot defy."

With a thought, the once-spinner disappeared and returned with a spelled queen in his arms.

He lay Regina on her bed, pressed two fingers to her forehead and, lacing his voice and touch with magic, spoke:

"Wakey, wakey Dearie."

Her chest began to rise and fall, and her eyes opened.

"Rumpel?" She asked, confused.

He ignored her, turning back to the Mirror.

Gathering up his own magic, the Mirror intoned:"You shall come upon your delicate flower on the topmost floor of the tallest tower."

As he again poofed away and found the woman he was still afraid to admit he loved exactly as described, the Dark One resolved to leave a little surprise behind for the Queen and the Adversary.

While it was true that he disliked liars, it was also true that he did not take kindly to those who took what was his.

As Rumpelstiltskin helped Belle settle back into the Dark Castle, he knew that they would have to talk; he would need to explain properly why he had spurned her advances, why it was vital that he retain his dark powers a littler longer.

But that would come later.

As he left her to her bath, Rumpelstiltskin had only one purpose in mind.

There was a certain dagger he needed to find...and deliver.


	3. Chapter 3

They traveled at night, and stuck to forested areas as often as possible; there wasn't much else they could do when one of their companions was a wolf whose size rivaled a small mountain.

So it was slow going.

Bigby had hoped to reach the portal in a few months' time, but they had barely covered a quarter of the distance between it and Mist Haven. Snow White had suggested asking the Blue Fairy for assistance, but Bigby knew that Reul Ghorm would refuse.

So long as the Adversary held Little Boy Blue, she was powerless.

By Bigby's reckoning, they were still weeks away from Bretagne. From there, he could carry Snow White and Little Red to Albion, where they could charter a ship to The Colonies in Americana.

That had _not_ been a pleasant conversation.

" _I can take you as far as Albion, but no further."_

" _Why?" Snow White asked._

" _The portal you must take resides in Americana, and I can't fit in on a ship full of tiny humans. I couldn't even fit inside a cargo hold."_

" _But you'll follow us, right?" Red asked. "After we get on the ship, you'll follow after us?"_

 _Bigby snorted. "You expect me to swim from Albion to Americana?"_

 _Red narrowed her eyes. "You promised."_

" _And I keep my promises. But as long as I am in this form, I can only hinder you. You will charter a ship, and you will sail to Americana. You will travel to The Colonies, and wait for me there."_

" _And what will you be doing while we're in a new land, alone?" the smaller wolf asked, a small growl escaping her throat._

" _Red-"_

" _Do not 'Red' me, Snow! He promised!" She looked back up at the Big Bad Wolf. "You gave us your word that you would protect us. How can you do that if you're not_ _ **with**_ _us?"_

" _If you would allow me to speak, little cub," Bigby responded with a growl of his own. "You would know that I do not intend to abandon you._

 _I will seek a magical who can gift me with the form of a man. But since no light-aligned faerie would ever dare help me, I must seek help from darker quarters; darker quarters that would not hesitate to hand you and your friend to the Adversary if it suited them."_

 _Red was silent for a moment, then, "Oh."_

 _Bigby snorted. "Yes, 'oh.'"_

They agreed to his plan eventually. He would seek out a magical being and "convince" it to use its magic to give him human form, and he would then journey to Americana on the next available ship. While he had swum the distance before, that had been without passengers for whom he would have to moderate his pace.

So they would go on ahead, and he would find them once he was human.

They would be able to travel during the day once he was human. They could stay at an inn instead of whatever glen they were in at the time.

That said, it grated that he would lose his current body; he had worked hard to become what he was now. If he'd known they would give him this much trouble, he would never have offered to help Little Red and Snow White.

But Bigby was a creature of habit, and he'd made a habit of keeping his word.

* * *

The Dark One generally had no trouble tracking down people he wanted to find. But the Big Bad Wolf was proving to be rather elusive. Rumpelstiltskin had only ever dealt with the creature once, when it was still young and small: he'd traded the North Wind's location for the pup's dormant ability to shapeshift.

They'd both gone their separate ways after that, and Rumpelstiltskin hadn't spared him a second thought.

The dagger, on the other hand, was easy to find but difficult to procure. The curse it carries is commonly found within the European Homelands, and the dagger itself resided in one of its smaller, lesser-known realms.

Unfortunately, the two items existed independently of one another, and he'd needed to adhere to his vision closely if he were to take advantage of this second chance to travel to the Realm Without Magic: he could not afford another setback.

That meant that he would have to procure the blood of a Moonchild, preferably while it was in the throes of its animal self, and anchor the cursed blood to the blade himself.

It had been tedious, and Rumpelstiltskin found himself chuckling at the irony: had he not made that deal with the pup years ago, none of this would have been necessary.

And now, he couldn't even find him! He left no broken ground, no swept foliage or snapped trees to mark his passing; it was as if his presence was gone as quickly as it had been.

 _A passing wind._

It was moments like these that made him wish that true foresight were among his many talents.

"Still no luck?" the Dark One was brought out of his musings by a soft voice.

"None, love," he replied.

Belle squeezed his shoulder in comfort. "Perhaps you should be looking at the problem differently."

"How do you mean?"

"You've been trying to find a way to track the Big Bad Wolf. But maybe, you could track his companions instead?"

"That… _"why didn't I think of that?!"_

Belle giggled. "I think you're a little too close to the situation to think to clearly, but it would have come to you eventually, my Rumpel."

The Dark One smiled. He and Belle had finally had their talk. He held no secrets from her now. And she was still here. Begrudging him nothing.

Loving him.

He would strike this deal with the wolf. They would travel together to this new world. He would find his son, and they would be well.

They would be a family.

* * *

It had been a difficult journey, but they had made it to Albion. Tomorrow, Snow and Red would book passage on ship bound for The Colonies. Bigby would follow as soon as he was able.

But first, they would rest.

"You're a difficult one to find, young zephyr."

The voice startled Red and Snow White, whose eyes widened in recognition.

Bigby was clam, and inclined his head in greeting. "Beast."

"Wolf!" the Dark One cheerily replied, bowing and flourishing is right hand.

"Why have you come?" Bigby asked.

"I've been trying to find you for weeks, with nothing to show for it." The Dark One smiled. "You are more like your father than you care to admit."

"Answer my question, Beast!" the wolf growled.

"Patience, Dearie, or you won't get your gift!"

"If it's anything like the gift you once gave me," Snow White angrily interjected," then he won't need it!"

"Hush, darling," Rumpelstiltskin crooned, raising a finger to his lips. "The adults are talking."

He returned his attention to Bigby.

"As I was saying before I was so _rudely_ interrupted, you were difficult to find; nearly impossible to track!" he giggled. "But I fashioned your pup's red cloak, and it was all too easy find its leftover fibers and track _it_ instead of _you._ "

"She's not my cub-"

"As if!" Red snorted.

"Semantics," the Dark One continued, waving away their protests. "Rumor has it that you're looking to make yourself human, wolf.

"I can do that for you." With a wave and a swirl of magic, the dagger appeared in his hands. "This dagger has been laced with the curse of lycanthropy. One touch, blade to blood, will grant you the ability of a Moonchild: from wolf to man to wolf again! All you need do is will it, and the change occurs."

Bigby's eyes narrowed. "You do nothing for free, Beast. What is your price?"

"Passage!" the Dark One crowed. "For myself and one other."

"That's not like you."

"Belle is coming with me."

"Beauty is alive?"

"You are not the only one the Queen has lied to."

Bigby thought for a moment. "…I get to keep this form?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded. "In addition to your human self, you will, with enough practice, also achieve a form in-between: both man and wolf. But that's it! Nothing else! _That_ particular ability is still mine."

"The ability to shift between man and wolf, in return for passage for Beauty and the Beast to the Realm Without Magic. That's the bargain?"

"It is."

"Done."

Rumpelstiltskin smiled. "Then the deal is struck!"

* * *

Henry gasped, more in shock than in pain, as his daughter's hand plunged into his chest; his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Goodbye, Daddy," Regina said tearfully.

Henry Mills crumpled, and the Queen left his cottage with his heart in her hand: she had a curse to cast.

* * *

 _It is a little known fact that the Dark Curse was actually Rumpelstiltskin's creation, not the Evil Queen's. Designed to bring all those it touched to a cursed existence in the Realm Without Magic, it had but one counter: the True Love between the North Kingdom's Prince Charming and the Silver Kingdom's Snow White._

 _By the time the curse was enacted, Princess Snow was protected, safe in the Woodlands of Fabletown. But Prince Charming was still in the Homelands, fighting his father's wars with what was left of the kingdom's coffers._

 _And he was taken. Separating Love from Love._

 _So it came to pass that by sheer happenstance, the Evil Queen accomplished the goal that she could not have done otherwise: she cast a curse that could not be broken._

 _-The Book of Fables_


End file.
